Josh adjusted the blanket around Zoe’s shoulders and held her tightly in his arms. The nausea subsided and she pressed her forehead into his cold, bare chest.
‘What can you remember?’ he asked.
‘After you went to get the ute, I went to find Blackjack and he was driving that truck with Dad’s cattle on the back. He must have thought we’d all gone home after the muster.’
‘Are you sure it was him?’ asked Mike.
Zoe nodded. ‘He looked straight at me.’
‘All he had to do was ring Caitlin,’ said Mike, ‘to see if you’d finished the muster yet. What a lowlife. Using his own kid to rustle cattle.’
‘What are we going to do?’ asked Tahnee.
‘Pass me that torch,’ said Mike. ‘I want to have a look at the brands.’
Mike shone the torchlight over the cattle. The brands on their hindquarters were large and messy, as if they had been changed, but it was impossible to see the lazy H and R of the Hillanaroo brand. ‘That could easily be our brand underneath,’ he said. ‘But there’s no real way to tell. He’s put another brand on top to hide it.’
‘We should tell the cops,’ said Josh.
‘I don’t want to leave the cattle,’ said Mike. ‘Caitlin has probably gone straight to her dad to tell him. He might come and hide them again.’
‘Let’s get this old beast going.’ Josh slapped his hand on the door of the truck. ‘We’ll load the cattle on and take them straight to the cops.’
Mike nodded.
‘You’d better hurry,’ said Tahnee, looking out onto the road. ‘There are cars coming.’
In the distance little white lights glided along in the blackness. Everyone jumped into action.
Mike sprang into the driver’s seat and fumbled under the steering wheel. The truck whimpered to life, then stalled again. He cursed.
‘Hold it, Mike, let’s get Zoe in,’ said Josh, helping Zoe into the cabin. Then he turned his attention to the truck. ‘Move over and let the expert have a go!’ It took only moments for Josh to get the truck roaring with life. He smiled graciously at Mike. ‘Am I a genius or what?’
‘It’s your electro-magnetism, Josh. I feel it whenever I’m around you.’
Both Zoe and Tahnee rolled their eyes.
‘Let’s get the cattle on,’ said Josh.
Mike backed the truck expertly to the loading ramp, and called out the window, ‘Don’t load those Herefords, they’re not ours.’
‘You don’t even know if the black ones are yours,’ said Josh.
‘Oh, they’re ours all right,’ said Mike. He leapt out, leaving the engine running.
It seemed to take forever for the black cattle to stomp clumsily into the crate and for Josh and Tahnee to slam the roller door closed behind them. Tahnee dived in beside Zoe and the truck lurched away from the yards. ‘Where’s Josh?’ asked Zoe.
‘Clinging on the sides,’ said Tahnee.
‘Where’s Frankie?’ she asked.
‘Where’s Frankie?’ Tahnee yelled.
Mike slowed and Tahnee opened the door wide so Frankie could leap in. He smelled horrendous, but Zoe hugged him, mud and all. He was shaggy and warm.
‘Phworr,’ muttered Tahnee. ‘You and your dog are as bad as each other. Whoa, hang on!’
Spiderman climbed in too and then Toby followed.
‘Bert and Race are in the crate,’ said Mike, pushing the truck up a gear.
Up ahead, two cars stopped at the wire gate.
‘They’re not going to let us through,’ said Mike.
Josh’s head appeared in the window. ‘Just push your way through,’ he said. ‘This thing’s got a wicked bullbar.’
Mike shrugged. ‘I’ll give it a go.’
Josh started hauling himself in the window. He squirmed and argued with the dogs until they were on the floor and he lay in Zoe’s lap, staring up at her. His feet hung out the window.
The high beam of the truck shone straight into the ute waiting at the gate, and Zoe saw a face she knew stare up at them wide-eyed. Mr Bowers. Mike inched the truck forward until the bullbar connected with the ute and began slowly pushing it back while Mr Bowers thumped his fist on the steering wheel.
Once through the gate Mike reversed far enough to clear the front end of the truck and swung it onto the road, narrowly missing a second car. Dad’s station wagon also sat on the edge of the road, empty and locked up. The truck lurched forward again and they chugged slowly up the road with the two cars following behind.
‘They can’t catch us now,’ Mike grinned, looking into the side mirrors of the truck. He put an arm out the window and held a finger up to them.
Josh laughed. Zoe looked down at him. He was still half-covered in black mud. ‘You stink.’
‘So do you.’
Mike looked across them both to Tahnee. ‘I told you.’
Tahnee hung her head out the window. ‘Just get to the showgrounds before I puke.’
Behind them, the cars wove from side to side trying to get past, but Mike kept the truck in the middle of the road so they couldn’t. When they got to the show-grounds, he pulled in and the two cars sailed on ahead.
On the other side of the grounds, inside the marquee, a country band was in full swing. The smell of hot, greasy food overpowered even the smell of the dogs and Zoe became instantly hungry again.
‘What do we do now?’ said Zoe as Mike pulled on the handbrake.
‘Have a long hot shower,’ said Tahnee, opening the door and falling out. Three dogs spilled out after her.
‘I’m going to get Dad,’ said Mike. He ran off towards the bar.
Josh helped Zoe out of the truck. ‘You okay?’
She nodded. ‘Just feel really betrayed, that’s all.’
He gave her a hug, wrapping his long arms around her blanketed shoulders and pulling her into his bare torso. ‘You need new friends, matey.’
‘I sure do,’ she said sadly. ‘How could I be such a bad judge of character?’
‘Oh, I don’t know, you got some of us right.’ He gave her a squeeze.
She squeezed him back.
‘They’ll get theirs,’ he said quietly.